220 THE BIRDS OF HELIGOLAND 



the head and neck of some examples passing into a creamy ash 

 grey. Beneath, they are of a more or less whitish-cream colour, 

 with a rose-red tinge on the upper breasts and the sides of the 

 breasts. Both species have the black markings, extending from the 

 nostrils, through the eyes, across the ear-coverts. In L. phcenicu- 

 rua, this is crossed by a broad pure white stripe ; in L. isabellinus, 

 there is only a dull creamy white indication of it. 



The bird which was caught here is, in its upper parts, of a very 

 light creamy reddish grey (hell isabell-rothgrau), the crown a little 

 darker, the feathers of the rump passing into a pale ferruginous 

 colour. A faintly indicated eye-streak, and all the lower parts, are 

 of a dull whitish cream colour, the colour being somewhat more 

 intense on the upper breast. The whitish forehead and the crown 

 are very faintly dappled with dark markings ; these markings, which 

 are peculiar to young examples of L. excubitor, are quite faint. 

 They are also visible on the upper breast, disappearing gradually at 

 the sides. The ear-coverts are of an obscure dark brownish colour 

 (trube dunkelbraun) ; those of the wings are of similar colour, and 

 have dull rusty grey (rostgrau) edges, which, on the posterior flight- 

 feathers and the large outer wing-coverts, pass into a dull rusty 

 white (rostweiss). Through this light border there run, as in 

 young examples of L. excubitor, fairly well-defined dark lines, which 

 pass round the tip of each feather. All the tail-feathers are of a 

 uniform dull light ferruginous, the colour being very faint on the 

 outer webs ; while at the tips and outer webs of the outermost pair 

 of tail-feathers, it passes into a dull ferruginous. The flight- 

 feathers are of a pale earthy colour (fahl erdbraun). There 

 is no white speculum on the primaries. It is, however, apparent 

 that one would have been developed at the next moult ; for the 

 fourth flight-feather of the right wing, which had been lost by 

 accident and replaced by a new one, bears at its root a fairly 

 broad white spot, indicative of the marking of the succeeding 

 plumage. 



The feet of the freshly-killed bird were lead grey (bleigrau), 

 the bill flesh-coloured with dark tip. The measurements of this 

 specimen are: total length, 6*50 ins. (165 mm.); length of the wing 

 in the resting position, 3*42 ins. (87 mm.) ; length of tail, 3'0 ins. 

 (76 mm.); portion of tail uncovered by the wings, T57 ins. (40 mm.); 

 length of bill, 0'39 in. (10 mm.); height of the tarsus, 0'86 in. 

 (22 mm.). The tail is uniformly truncate, only the outermost pair 

 of feathers being 0'35 in. (9 mm.) shorter than the rest. 



The specimens in the Berlin Museum, quoted at the head of this 

 article, so completely agree in their measurements and in the 

 relations of the flight-feathers and rectrices, and show only such 



